Our House Made of Paper
by Demonic Fairytale
Summary: Nellis fic. -And suddenly, Ellis is breaking down every wall the conman had so carefully built.- M for future content.


Nick leaned back against the surprisingly sturdy walls of the hotel safe room. His 'teammates', if he dared called them that, were spread out around the square confines, reloading guns and rifling through health kits to see what the little red packages contained, for future knowledge. His hand gripped the magnum tightly upon hearing a groan outside the thick red door, his eyes darting over to the metal entrance. A female with pale, white flesh and a missing lower jaw shuffled into view, before quickly being shot down with a bullet from Nick's pistol. The other three jumped and threw him a glance before returning to what it was they had been doing. His grip loosened, very slightly, and he drew in a deep breath as his arm lowered. This was a load of shit he'd gotten himself into. Savannah was bad enough, but a redneck town, three optimistic idiots, and a zombie apocalypse? Nick inwardly swore- Lady Luck must have finally deserted him and Karma was having a fucking field day.

"'Ey I know a gun store we can stop at long the way. Get ourselves some real weapuns." The hick- Ellis, was it? -stated with his thick Southern drawl and Nick snorted.

"Guess living here is finally paying off." He said sarcastically, earning a glare from Coach. Not that the card shark cared much. He'd had worse than a measly glare from people who didn't like his attitude in the past, and the look didn't even make him feel uncomfortable.

"Mister, I don't think I like yo' attitude." Coach stated and Nick gave a shrug, "Whatever." And that was the end of that conversation, he decided, as he pocketed the magnum and picked himself up a shotgun. Rochelle was waiting patiently by the door, looking as though she was in no rush to rejoin the infected corpses dragging themselves around outside the hotel. After everyone had gotten their last few rounds of ammunition and each of them had a health kit, the woman opened the door and walked out, the others following closely. Almost immediately, the zombies started to swarm, snarling and groaning in anticipation of new, fresh meat as they reached for their meals. Bullets were shot off with no hesitance, lodging themselves into the heads of the walking dead, blood and guts staining the group.

"Ah fuck, I got blood on my suit!" Nick hissed, glaring at the various red stains standing out clearly on their new white canvas.

"Least it ain't yer blood." Ellis commented (seeing the fucking bright side as always, Nick thought) as he tilted his hat back and shot a lingering zombie between the eyes, bursting open the woman's face. Nick didn't bat an eyelash as the infected fell back, pieces of flesh hanging loosely from her skull as blood pooled around her head. He simply rolled his eyes at Ellis' comment and stated calmly, "Right. Let's keep moving." There was likely to be a men's store at the mall where he could trade out suits for something less stained before evacuation.

"We ain't that far, I don't think. That gun stores just up ahead, and if I'm right, the mall is just a little further." Coach spoke up, most likely just voicing his thoughts aloud and mapping out their course. Nick nodded as he reloaded his shotgun. It was an old model and the trigger kept sticking- He'd be glad to be rid of it. With luck they'd have some of the newer models in stock, and he'd be able to get a gun that would actually be useful in this damn apocalypse. Despite the hope the others all had for CEDA getting their asses out of here...

Nick had a sinking feeling nothing was waiting for them at that damn shopping center.

-**LINEBREAK**-

"Alrigh' baby, now _this_ is a gun!" Ellis declared, holding up a sniper rifle, a wide grin on his dirty face, like he thought it was fucking Christmas.

"Hey, sport, watch where you're aiming that." Nick snapped and pushed the gun away from him. If that damn hick shot him, he swore to god, he'd knock every one of those pearly whites out of the kid's head. Ignoring the story that began to spill from the kid's lips, Nick strolled over to the wall of guns, eying each one carefully. He didn't like shotguns, so those were out of the question. Ellis and Rochelle already had snipers of their own, meaning another scope was just overkill.

"Hell yes, taking the AK." Nick murmured, more to himself than anyone else as he picked the gun off the shelf. Perfect condition, fully loaded, and _free_. He could make some good use out of this. It wasn't one he could use while running around, but he had his newly acquired magnum for that purpose. The drawback wasn't too bad and the firepower was well worth it.

"I'm not legally aloud to own a gun," Nick stated as he pocketed some ammo, knowing he'd need it later, "Hope everyone's okay with that." He heard a little unamused huff from Rochelle and gave her an uncaring smirk, "Something wrong, sweetheart?" He asked and she rolled her eyes.

"Just shut it and let's get a move on." She replied, walking over to the door, frowning at the small voice box beside it. "Looks like we're gonna have to hope someone can hear us through this thing and unlock the door, or we're breaking it down." She stated, giving Coach a look before pressing the intercom button, "Um, hello?"

"Hello there!" A voice boomed and Nick could see Ellis just about jump out of his skin from shock. "I've barricaded myself up on this here roof with ample provisions, but in my haste, I forgot cola. So here's my proposition- If ya'll get me some cola from yonder food store, I'll clear the path to the mall for ya."

"'Ey, I get that. A man needs his snacks!" Ellis replied, walking up next to Rochelle as the door unlocked and their path was opened. He then turned back to the rest of the group and whispered, "Man this guys weird." Nick couldn't agree more, but didn't bother to agree, simply starting on his way up the steps, "Come on, let's just get the dude's cola and go. We're almost there." Without much hesitation, the others followed, their new guns held tight as they made their way to the grocery store across the street. They knew before they even reached it that there would be an alarm and would without a doubt signal a hoard, and it simply became a question of who was going to carry the cola while the others covered them.

"Nuh-uh, man, I am waaaay to e'cited to use this gun." Ellis stated in defense when his name was brought up for consideration. Rochelle rolled her eyes but pat his shoulder and let him be, turning to the others, "I already had to talk to him once and Coach has a bad leg." She voiced, her eyes glancing in the conman's direction who let out an annoyed sigh.

"Me? Why _me_?" Nick asked, somehow knowing that despite his protests he'd be the one doing it anyway.

"Because it's your turn to do something nice. Get a karma point." Rochell replied, putting her hands on her hips as she frowned at him, "We'll cover you, it's not that far."

Nick begrudgingly agreed, not without bitching of course, and ran inside when the doors opened to find the cola. There was one pack left, sitting in the back corner and Nick grabbed it, "Alright, I got the cola, let's go!" He shouted to his teammates over the roaring gunfire as they kept the infected back. He waited until Coach signaled for him to go, before darting out the door. Bullets whizzed past his head as he fucking booked it back to the gun store, swearing every time one of the bastards caught his sleeve, or worse, his skin. They would fall fast enough, but just the thought of those walking corpses _touching_ him made him want to puke.

Nick darted up the steps, two at a time, not taking the time to wonder how in the hell that bottles hadn't broken yet as he neared the white door where Whitaker would be taking his god-damn cola. He wasn't five feet away when the drinks fell from his hands and he felt himself being hauled into the air, a wet noose constricting his throat, arms, and stomach. The conman choked, his fingers grasping at the slimy appendage holding him hostage, thick, nicotine scented smoke stinging his eyes. "G-ge... get it o-off...!" He coughed out as the others spotted him, all of them looking in shock.

It was Ellis who saved him, a bullet to the zombie's head, and Nick dropped three feet to the cement walkway, coughing and sputtering as though he'd been almost drowned. Upon reaching him, Rochelle took the cola and handed it off to Whitaker through a slot in the door, leaving Ellis and Coach to check up on the card shark.

"What... In the hell... was that...?" Nick coughed out between breaths, running a hand shakily through his hair as he sat up.

"Dunno man. Some smokin' thing wit' a real long tongue." Ellis replied, "Don' think it was a normal one of 'em bastards, either."

"Real reassuring..." Nick muttered, looking up at Rochelle as the girl exclaimed the barrier was down. "So we can get going?"

"If you're feeling up to it." Rochelle replied, walking back over to the trio, "That thing had you wrapped up pretty tight." Nick shrugged and pushed himself to his feet, coughing a few more times. His throat was burning and he'd be surprised if there weren't bruises starting to form, but they didn't have time to worry about that. He wasn't hurt badly enough that it should slow them down, he decided, giving them all a little nod as he picked up the AK-47, which had fallen to the ground when he'd been grabbed.

"Let's go."

**-LINEBREAK-**

End of chapter one :) Just a kind of starter chapter, for practice I guess? I'm still working on Breaking at My Seams, I've just hit a wall and I'm struggling to get past it. I promise I'm doing my best though and I should have it up soon enough. Anyway, new story! :D Nellis, my freaking OTP (those of you who don't know what Nellis is, it's NickxEllis. If you don't know what THAT is, then I worry about you.). I hope you all enjoy this story as it progresses and I'll do my best to update regularly. Creative Critique is welcomed, as always, and anyone wanting to be an RP partner of mine, just email me.

Much love to all my readers.


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